


The Missing Piece I Yearn to Find

by wildwinterwitch



Series: Driftwood [12]
Category: Broadchurch, True Love (TV)
Genre: Crossover, F/M, Series 1 Episode 7
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-20
Updated: 2013-04-20
Packaged: 2017-12-09 00:00:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/767630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildwinterwitch/pseuds/wildwinterwitch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ellie asks Holly for help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Missing Piece I Yearn to Find

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from “So Close” by Ólafur Arnalds.

She held Ellie and let her cry herself out. Thankfully, because they were police, they were given a private room to wait for news about Alec. Private room was putting it a bit grand; they were allowed to use one of the triage rooms as long as it wasn't needed for an emergency. It was a calm night, and Holly was selfishly glad because that meant the doctors and nurses could fully concentrate on saving Alec’s life.

She was in such a daze that she went on autopilot as soon as Ellie had phoned her. She was surprised when Ellie phoned so late. She’d thought that as far as Ellie knew she and Alec were just friends, perhaps even less than that considering feelings about ‘friends with benefits'. Ironically Holly seemed to feel lonelier since she’d met Alec. She didn’t know how to tell him that their relationship was more than just a cuppa and a shag to her.

“How did you know how to reach me?” Holly asked eventually, feeling silly as soon as the words were out of her mouth. “You’re the police.”

“I wouldn’t have thought of calling you, to be honest,” Ellie said. “No offence. I just thought he might like to have someone other than me watching over him.”

Holly smiled shakily.

“So much for my detecting skills. It should have been my idea to call you, after the other night at ours. He never gives away anything about his private life. I think you’re the closest thing he has to… friends and family,” Ellie said, cleaning herself up as best she could. She looked shaken to the core, and the cold light of the room did nothing to flatter her tired face.

“Yeah. Thank you.”

“He asked for you. Your name was the last thing he said before he passed out,” Ellie added.

Holly nodded, feeling like one of her pupils again. She needed it, though. She needed to hear it. “Thanks.”

“I got your number off his mobile,” the DS continued to explain.

Holly smiled. “I figured as much.”

“Sorry, I’m sure you need your beauty sleep.”

“Not as much as you. You go home, Ellie, and get some sleep. I’ll sit with Alec. If they'll let me.”

“They will, don’t worry about that,” Ellie said. “And thanks for… the shoulder.”

Holly was still in a daze. She wondered when she’d need one. “Don’t mention it.” She tried to push her hair behind her ears. She’d had a shower before bed, and had fallen asleep on the sofa without combing it out. Her hair must look like something exploded in the bristles of a broom.

“I’ll drop in first thing tomorrow morning.” Ellie checked the clock. “Well, in the morning. You sure you’ll be all right? Can I get you anything before I leave?”

“Some coffee would be nice,” Holly said automatically. The hospital stuff was better than nothing.

They both jumped as the door opened and a young Asian doctor, whose name she forgot immediately, strode in. “He suffers from arrhythmia. He’s stable for now, but he certainly won’t be fit for work for a while yet. I suggest bed rest, for now, and then we’ll look into possibilities of therapy,” he said.

“Thank you, Doctor,” Ellie said. “This is Holly, a friend of the DI's. She would like to sit with him. He doesn’t have any family, and she’s the friendliest face he knows in town.”

The doctor hesitated briefly. “He’s completely out at the moment.”

“That’s fine. I just… don’t want him to be alone when he wakes,” Holly replied.

“Well then. He’s being taken upstairs as we speak. I’ll show you the way.”

After she and Ellie had exchanged mobile numbers, and Holly had promised to call if there was any news, she followed the doctor to the ward. Alec was pale, but he looked as peaceful as he did on the rare occasions she’d seen him sleeping. She never mentioned it to him, but he usually fell asleep of exhaustion, and she would carefully take off his glasses and put away his book. She’d kiss him and go on reading until she, too, couldn’t keep her eyes open any more. It hadn’t happened more than three or four times, but it had been often enough to create a feeling of intimacy and a bedtime ritual.

They had hooked him up to an oxygen supply, a heart monitor and two drips. If she were to take either of his hands, she’d have to be careful not to unhook anything, but she had learned how to do that. She just hadn’t thought she’d ever need that knowledge again, and certainly not so soon.

“Hello, you,” she said, bending to kiss his unresponsive lips. Even they were just a pale pink tonight. She adjusted the bedside lamp a little so it didn’t shine directly in his face, and gave his hand a squeeze. “I’m here now, Alec.”

Then she settled in the high-backed chair with her book, and began her vigil.

-:-

A low rumble roused her from her sleep. It couldn’t have been more than a short nap; she hadn’t relaxed enough to drop her book. She set it aside and moved closer to Alec, so he’d be able to see her when he woke.

“Hello, you,” she said softly, finding his hand blindly as she kept looking at him.

“Hey.” His voice had never been so gravelly before. “So I’m still here.”

“Barely, but yes, you are,” she said, smiling mirthlessly. “Bastard.”

“I’ve had worse,” he rumbled, and Holly didn’t know what he was referring to: curses or emergencies.

“So when you fell in the shower, that was a syncope?”

He nodded.

“And when you collapsed on me the first time we made love, that was a syncope too?”

“Most pleasant one I’ve ever had.”

“’S not funny, Alec.”

He closed his eyes. “Can I have a drink of water?”

She helped him drink, and raising his head and using the straw was so demanding that he dropped back into his pillow as soon as he let go of the plastic.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Would ye have had sex with me?”

She snorted. “Was it just about that?”

“In the beginning, aye.”

“I would, if you’d told me it was safe. Nothing ever happened on the other occasions.”

He smiled, making a gleeful little sound. “More water. Please.”

“Will you let them help you this time? The morning we met here. You’d just discharged yourself, hadn’t you?” she continued.

“Aye, and no, in reverse order,” he rumbled.

“Why not?”

“Holly, chances are I won't survive the surgery to put a pacemaker in,” he said.

Holly froze. He felt for and found her hand. “Holly, love, listen to me. I’ll be fine. Once this case is over, aye? It’s all I need. There’s just one missing piece. I’m so close.”

“I can’t have you… dying on me,” she managed to say. Of all the phrases that were on a wild ride on the merry-go-round in her head, it had to be those.

He squeezed her hand. “K. K died here. The morning we met in the corridor.”

Holly knew now. Karen’s parents had contacted her briefly, honouring their daughter’s wishes. She made herself nod. “The night before. After we’d met on the beach.”

“I’m sorry.”

She clamped her hand over her mouth. She couldn’t fall apart now, not when she was here to comfort him. But K’s loss was still so raw, despite everything that had happened since, despite the ever-growing feelings of love she had for Alec. “Yeah. Thanks.”

“Would you read to me?”

She laughed softly. “I’m in the middle of the story.”

“Doesnae matter. I’ll take anything I can get. I love listening to you.”

She smiled, composing herself. Then she drew the chair closer to his bed so he could hold her hand as she began to read out loud.

-:-

“You talk some sense into that stubborn bastard!” Ellie thundered as she rushed out of the ward. Holly was just returning from a trip to the cafeteria and a stop in the bathroom to make herself presentable and ready for the day.

“The case keeps him going,” Holly said.

“You support this?”

“No. I don’t. But it’s all he has,” she said.

“What about you?”

“I’m not important right now,” Holly replied.

“That self-important bastard. He doesn’t even know what kind of a saint you are to put up with him,” Ellie said.

Holly ducked her head. She was anything but a saint. “I’ll try, but I can’t promise anything.”

“He’s going to die if he keeps doing this!” Ellie raged, unsure of what _this_ was, but it was certainly all-encompassing. “Right, listen love. I’m sorry for exploding like that. I’m going back to the station. I've got work to do.”

“I have an exam at school, but I’ll come back here as soon as I can.”

“If he’s still here by then,” Ellie muttered under her breath. Then, inhaling deeply, she drew herself up to her full height. “He can’t do it this time.”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Right, we’ll keep in touch, yes?”

Holly smiled and nodded.

“Thank you, Holly.”


End file.
